Tuesday Poem: “Angela Carter” by Tim Jones
Angela Carter
And then your portrait on the back
so neutral and complete
standing full-length
posed I don’t remember where.
Eyes sky black
you stood unsmiling
suggesting there were realer worlds within.
Your books dealt much in mirrors
which might have led me to suppose
that you were one yourself
and I’d step through the flimsy sheet
that held you to your words
and turn and, face inside your face,
watch the empty space where I had been.
.
© Tim Jones
Published in Boat People, HeadworX, 2008. Reproduced here with permission.
—
As I noted in March 26th’s Tuesday Poem post, I am currently running a series of poems in response to works of art, which will include a note from the poet. This week’s poem and note is from Tim Jones.
You can find out more about Angela Carter by clicking on her name and reading Tim’s note.
—
Poet’s Note: from Tim Jones
“When I was younger, I went through phases of intensively reading the entire oeuvre – or as much of the oeuvre as I could lay my hands on – of specific authors.
One such author was Angela Carter (1940-1992), who is probably now best known for her late novel Night at the Circus, but whose earlier novels veered closer to science fiction. At a time when I was finding out about feminism, I found Angela Carter’s strongly but unconventionally feminist fiction both fascinating and challenging. The photo that made such an impression on me was on the back cover of The Passion of New Eve, her 1977 science fiction novel (though “science fiction” is a pale term to use to describe Carter’s lush, highly symbolic fiction) – and the poem reflects my fascination with the questions of masculine and feminine identity found both in this novel and throughout Carter’s fiction.
I get the impression that Angela Carter’s fiction isn’t as well known or widely read twenty years after her death as it deserves to me. If you’d like to know more about her and her work, check out this Scriptorium profile of her by Jeff VanderMeer, or this shorter 2006 profile in the Independent (UK).“
—
About the Poet:
Tim Jones is a poet and author of both science fiction and literary fiction who was awarded the New Zealand Society of Authors Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2010. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Among his recent books are fantasy novel Anarya’s Secret (RedBrick, 2007), short story collection Transported (Vintage, 2008), and poetry anthology Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand (Interactive Press, 2009), co-edited with Mark Pirie. Voyagers won the “Best Collected Work” category in the 2010 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, and has been selected for the “Books On New Zealand” exhibition at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair. Tim’s most recent book is his third poetry collection, Men Briefly Explained, published by Interactive Press (IP) in late 2011. He is currently working on his third short story collection and, with P.S. Cottier, co-editing the anthology The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry, to be published in 2014.
To find out more about Tim and his work, visit his blog, Books In The Trees.
To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.
I love that poem Tim and agree re Angela Carter – her re-imagined fairy tales have always been among my favourites. 🙂
Hi Tim
I really enjoyed your poem, and your reflections on what Angela Carter has offered to this conversation of life we are all having. Last year, which was twenty years after she died, I produced a work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Radio National) that AC has written for radio: a total tongue in cheek but incredibly acerbic and yet sympathetic piece about virgins and vampires and the like, titled Vampirella. I also made a mini feature to go with it, comprising of reflections upon her oeuvre from those in the field and quotes about her and what she did from those who knew and loved her. In the course of doing both, I was shocked by the cultural amnesia about AC but feel 1. her legacy lives on in manifold ways and 2. her “time” will come again. As you say, she is an intriguing thinker. I also think she is quite splendid. Btw, my friend and colleague Penelope Cottier alerted me to your poem.
Maryanne
Grammatical correction: “that AC had written for radio” … (Sorry to be so anal.)
Thanks, Mary and Maryanne (and also Penelope, for alerting Maryanne to the poem). Maryanne, thanks for letting us know about this feature: do you know whether it is available online anywhere, or is likely to be made available online? Provided that can be done legitimately, it would be lovely to be able to share this more widely, and help combat some of this culture amnesia.
I will have to investigate how you might get access to it. The ABC streams it online for 4 weeks from first broadcast and then repeats it at times … Sometimes however other arrangements can be made. M